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In Memoriam. 




HOir. HENHY M. SPOFFOHD. 



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IN MEMORIAM. 

HEINHY T>1. !Bil?OFFOIM>. 



[From the Pulasld (Tenii.) Citizen, Aug. 26, ISSO.] 

OX last Wednesday a telegram siniinioiied Major J. B. Siacy and 
Dr. C. C. Abernatliy to Cincinnati, conveying also tlie sad infor- 
mation tliat Judge H. M. Spofford was tliouglit to lie dying at Red 
Sulphur Springs, West Va. Tliey left on tlie next train, and met Mrs. 
Sixiffunl in Cincinnati, where she has been for several weeks, and pro- 
ceeded thence to Judge Spofford's bedside, but before they arrived 
death came to relieve him of snfiei'ing. He expii-ed at 8 o'clock Friday 
morning, Aug. 20, of abscess of ihe liver. 

Judge H. M. SroFFOED was bmii in Gilmanton, N. H., Se|it. 8, 
1821. He was a graduate— with highest honors — of Amherst College, 
Massachusetts, and located in Slireveport, La., in 1845, and at once 
entered upon the [)ractice of law. He early gave promise of a brilliant 
future, and rapidly rose at the bar. In 1854 he was elected to the Su- 
preme Bench of Lor.isiana, and filled that exalted station with signal 
credit until he resigned in 1858, returning to the practice of his profes- 
sion and to the achievement of those honors which cluster so thickly 
about his name and make his memory imperishable. Possessing great 
wealth, and having risen to the highest attainable emitience in his pro- 
fession, politics had little that could allure him; he nevertheless ac- 
cepted an election to the Uiiiteil States Senate, in 1877, by the Nicholls 
Legislature. How he was cheated of his office by the Republican Sen- 
ate, and how a Democratic Senate has signally disgraced itself by fail- 



In Memoriam. 



ing to undo tli:\t great wrong, are known to tlie public. He never once 
wavered in liis struggle bel'ore tlie Senate, pursuing it, as he lias told 
us, because lie tliouglit it due to the people who had elected him tliat 
he should devote all his energies to securing the office for tlieui. It is 
a matter of little doubt that the heavy weight of this great wrong niion 
his niiinl, and the harassing cares of a prosecution he never permitted 
to waver, hastened his death at so unfortunate a juncture. 

Jiiilge Spofford was united in marriage with Miss Ojihelia M.niin, 
daughter of our late honored citizen, Thomas Martin, E.-q., in 181)0. 
To tlieni were born three children, all of whom are yet living. 

Judge Spofford left New Orleans on the 18th of March la.st and 
came to Pulaski, when he was almost immediately taken down with the 
disease that has iiarassed him for two years — a liver complaint. He 
lay for some time at the point of death, but skillful treatment baffled 
the disease to that e.xtent that he was able in a few weeks to go to Bai- 
ley Springs, wliere he spent two or three weeks, and returned better. 
About a monlii ago ho went to Cincinnati to consult physicians, and 
from thence went to Red Sulphur Springs, West Va., in company with 
his son, where his earthly career closed. 

On last Tuesday morning, at 11 o'clock, the remains of Juilge Spof- 
ford arrived in Pulaski by special car, accompanied by Mrs. Spoflbrd 
and her son Thomas, with Jlrs. George Martin, a widow of a brother 
of Thomas Martin, deceased, and her son, Mr. Martin, of Columbia, 
Hon. Aiiisworth R. S|)off>rd, Lilirarian of Congress, Dr. C. C Aber- 
nathy, Mr. Hugh C. Topp, and Major J. B. Stacy. The train was 
met at the depot by several hundred of our people, and the remains 
were taken in charge liy the pall-bearers appointed at a meeting of our 
citiz'^ns the day before. The procession moved slowly to the late resi- 
dence of Major Hugh F. Ewing, on First Street, which had been fitted 
up for the reception of the family (their residence on Second Street 
being in process of repairs), where the remains were deposited until 5 
o'clock, when they were conveyed to the M. E. Church. Out of respect 
for the eminent dead, and under a proclamation of the Mayor, all bus- 
iness was suspended, and Pulaski en ma-sge drooped its head in solemn 



Henry M. Spofford. 



soi'i'ow in honi.'ige ami Inve for tlie great man thus brought low by the 
grim hand of death. At the M. E. Church, at 5 o'clock, one of the 
largest audiences ever assembled in Puhxski met to pay the last sad 
tribute of respect to the mortal remains of the honored dead. The pul- 
pit and altar iiad been elaborately draped in moniuing, in testimony 
of sorrow, and Dr. W. M. Leftwicii pronounced the most touchingly 
beautiful and pnifcmnd funeral oration we ever heard upon such an oc- 
casion. It abounded in grand thouglits and lessons drawn from tlie 
eminent success and faultless life of the deceased, and was a lofiy 
tribute to his memory. 

At 0:15 the cortege started for the New Cemetery, where the last 
sad rites were said, the bitterest tears dropped, and the mortal remains 
of Henry M. Spofford were deposited in the spacious family vault, 
close beside those of the family gone before. 

Tiius has passed away forever one of the grandest men of tlie times. 
Profound in all the science-!, versed in literature and history, eminent 
in law and p<iliiic-', and grand in all, he stood the peer of the greatest. 



MEETING OP THE CITIZENS. 

Pursuant to notice, a meeting of the citizens of Pulaski and Giles 
county was called at tlie Court-house on Saturday evening, Aug. 21, 
1880, to pass suitable resolutions i-elative to the death of the Hon. 
H. ]\I. Spofford. On motion, Col. Solon E. Rose was elected Chair- 
man, and Charles P. Jones, Secretary. The following resolutions were 
then [iresented by the Hon. Thomas M. Jones: 

Whereas, The painful intelligence has reached us of the death of the Hon. 
H. M. Spofford, who, although a citizen of the State of Louisiana, has for 
many years lived a portion of his time in the town of Pulaski, and by his gen- 
tlemanly bearing and urbane deportment endeared himself to our citizens: 

Be it resolved, As a testimonial of the high regard we cherished for him 
when living, and the esteem and respect in which we hold his memory, that a 
committee, consisting of twelve citizens, be appointed by the Chairman of this 
meeting to act as pall-bearers to meet the remains at the depot, and to escort 
the same to his residence, and such place as may be designated for the funeral 
service. 



In Mkmoriam. 



2. That our deepest sympathies are hereby tendered to his bereaved widow 
and family. 

Be it farther resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the Chair- 
man and Secretary, be sent to Mrs. Spottord, and furnished the Pulaski press for 
publication. 

These resolutions, on motion, ■were unanimously adopted. 

In accordance witli the above resolutions, the following gentlemen 
were appointed as pall-bearers, to wit: Thomas M. Jones, John A. 
Tinnon, J. N. Patterson, W. H. Abernathy, J. B. Childers, P. H. 
Ezell, A. J. Abernatiiy, John S. Wilkes, W. P. BnUentine, T. M. N. 
Jones, p]. B. Buford, and M. Childress. 

On motion, the Ciiairman and Secretary were also appointed as pall- 
bearers. 

There being no fartiier business, the meeting adjourned dne die. 

S. E. Rose, Chairman. 
Charles P. Jones, Secrdanj. 



THE CITY COUNCIL. 

Upon call of the Mayor, the Aldermen met at his office on Tuesday 

morning. Present: Mayor Crow, Aldermen Childers, McLean, Finley, 

Jackson, Townsend, and Recorder Winship. The following resolutions 

were then adopted : 

WnF;RKAS, We have received the painful intelligence of the death of the 
Hon. Henky M. Spofford, whose courtesy and gentlemanly bearing endeared 
him to all who knew him; therefore, be it resolved by the Mayor and Aldermen 
of the town of Pulaski — 

1. That in the death of the Hon. II. M. Si'offord we have lost an esteemed 
and valuable citizen. 

2. That we tender to the family of the deceased our sincere sympathy and 
condolence. 

3. That, as a testimonial of the high regard we entertain for the character of 
the deceased, and the esteem and respect we cherish for his memory, we will 
attend his funeral, and accompany his remains to the cemetery. 

4. That the proprietors of all business-houses be requested to close the same 
at 4 o'clock this afternoon. 

5. That a copy of these proceedings be furnished the widow of the deceased, 
and jniblished in the Pulaski Citizen and Herald. 



Henry M. Spofford. 



Funeral Discourse 

OYER THE REMAINS OF THE HON. HENRY M. SPOFFORD. 

DELIYERED IN THE METHODIST CHURCH IN 

PULASKI, TENN., AUGUST 24, 1880. 



BY THE KEY. W. M. LEFTAVICII, D.D. 



PHILOSOPHY turns to folly in the presence of grief. 
The shadow of death upon the heart obscures the 
perception of truth, and defers candid criticism. Not until 
Time, the great healer, has soothed the sorrow and lifted 
the shadow can philosophy be true to itself, and turn its 
unsparing lights upon the subject of its analysis. 

To the profound thinker the philosophy of life is better 
than its facts, and the principles are of more value than the 
pi'oducts. Facts only illustrate philosophy, and products 
declare principles. Life reaches its highest significance in 
the character it forms, and philosophy finds its richest and 
ripest subject in the analysis of character. It is not the 
genealogy, not the biography, not the personal history, not 
the facts, and fruits, and forces of life, that most deeply and 
vitally concern us, but the character that rises up out of 
them, and apart from which they cannot be studied. Hence 
it is that history hesitates until philosophy interprets for us 
the genius of humanity, and translates into common princi- 
ples the subtile spirit of representative life; then the right 
point of view is given, and the history of the world becomes 
the biography of its great men. 



6 Ix ]Mi:moriam. 



Men ;ire vepresent;itive of ideas and principles. By 
some occult law of our nature each man becomes the agent 
and interpreter of those ideas and principles which, by 
assimilation, have become a part of his consciousness, and 
which have been crystallized into his character. Ideas and 
principles — from whatever system of truth evolved — are 
valuable to us only as they can become vital in conscious- 
ness and character. Hence, the various sj'stems of philo.s- 
ophy and science, as well as the religions and civilizations 
of men, are valuable and vital only in the character they 
produce, and the comfort and culture they bring; and the 
ultimate value of each human hfe is to be estimated b}' the 
grade of character it produces, and the extent of its use- 
fulness. If it be true that each material thing has its celes- 
tial side, its translation tln-ough humanity into the spiritual 
and the invisible, how much grander the truth that the spir- 
itual and the divine have their translation through the 
higher forms of human character into the visible kingdom 
of God, converting fallen men into sons of God and heirs 
of everlasting life ! 

Looking thus at human life, we are profoundly affected 
when its earthly biography closes, and its product is before 
us in the highest type of representative character. If we 
study the personal liistory, and measure the great achieve- 
ments of a successful life, it is that we may rightly esti- 
mate the character, and possess ourselves, for practical uses, 
of the ideas and principles which the character represents 
and interprets for us. 

Now, when the f)resent pall passes away, and the dark 
shadows are lifted from our hearts, then will the life of 
Henry M. Spoffoud — studied in the light of these princi- 
ples of social science — stand up in the history of our coun- 
try, a character of remarkable symmetry and solidity, of 



Hexry ^I. Spofford. 



exceptional purity and poli.•^h, full and finished in all the 
essential elements of the highest and noblest manhood. 

He was born in Gilmanton, N. IL, in 1821 ; graduated 
at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1840, and was a 
member of the Facultj^ of his Alii/a Jfafrr from 1840 to 
1842. Quitting New Hampshire, he went to Louisiana, 
where he taught school, and read law, until 1845, when he 
opened a law office in Shreveport, in partnership with Judge 
Olcott. His professional integrity, abilit}', and learning, 
soon placed him at the head of his profession, attracted to 
him a lucrative practice, and received substantial recognition 
by his State. In 1853 lie removed to New Orleans, and in 
1854— when he had barely reached the constitutional age — 
he was placed upon the Supreme Bench of the State of 
Louisiana, to succeed Judge John A. Campbell, resigneil. 
In this capacity he served his State and country until 1858, 
when he resigned and resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion. It was after occupying this high position of honor 
and trust that he met and uiariied his now bereaved widow. 
His profound legal learning and discriminating judicial mind 
made him one of the ablest and safest jurists of the coun- 
try. His name is conspicuously associated with the his- 
tory of the jurisprudence of his State, ami will go down to 
posterity as that of a profound jurist. Future generations will 
study his character and wisdom in the great questions of 
constitutional law settled in his judicial decisions, which 
wiU. constitute a monument to his fame as enduring as the 
laws and language of his race. But not alone as a Supreme 
Judge has he written his name upon the high scroll of fame, 
but also in the succe.ssful prosecution of his profession. 
Life's greatness and grandeur, as seen by men, consists in 
its material products which bless and benefit mankind ; for 
it is still true that 



I.\ Memuiuam. 



"We live 111 (leeils, not years ; in thoughts, not hreatlis; 
In feelinf^s, not in figures on a dial. 
We shoulil count time by heai-t-thvobs : he most lives 
Who tliinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 

We come to-day, friends, not to weep only, but to study 
the ]e.sson.s of ;i snccessfol life — success measured by high 
achievements — achievements in professional and general 
knowledge, in ripe scholarship, in profound learning, in 
social and aesthetic culture, in literary finish and exquisite 
taste, in wisdom, fortune, and f ime ; hut aliove all, and bet- 
ter than all, stands the chumder, gentle, refined, cultured, 
chaste, polished, solid, balanced, rounded, complete in all 
the higher possibilities of Goil's noblest work — a model 
sentleman. "He that is slow to anger is bettor than the 
mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketb 
a city." Man's greatest achievement is to rule himself, and 
resolve the mighty forces of his nature into a well-poised, 
well-matured Christian character. 

As executor of the large estate of his deceased father-in- 
law, Mr. Thomas Martin, Judge Spofford spent much of 
the i»ast several years in this connnunity and county, with- 
out removing his citizenship from Louisiana, or breaking up 
his home in New Orleans. While thus iiu'identally con- 
nected with this community we have learned to know him, 
to love him, to honor him, and to appreciate in him a char- 
acter which combined so many of the refinements of culture 
and the chaste amenities of the social gentleman. His life 
has touched ours, his character has toned ours, his presence 
has blessed us, and his death has beref^t us. This vast con- 
course of citizens, of all ranks and conditions, bowed in 
silent grief, attest the general and genuine sorrow over the 
distinguished dead, and the genuine and general sympathy 
for the grief-smitten living. 



Henry M. Spofford. 9 



In 1877 he was elected by tlie Legislature of Loiiisi;in;i 
to ii seat in the United States Senate. From this seat he 
was excluded by an opposing party majority. It would 
not become this place, nor this sad occasion, to review the 
history of that contest. It is sufficient to state that when 
the question was reopened, after a long, patient, and thor- 
ough investigation of the case, a majority of the Committee 
on Privileges and Elections reported him justly entitled to 
his seat. Pending the discussion of this report the Senate 
adjourned, and now death has put an end to all the ques- 
tions to which he was personally a party. Though deprived 
of the seat to which he was elected, his name became widely 
known and respected, both North and South, as one of the 
most conservative, courageous, generous, learned, and elo- ■ 
querit, of those citizens of the old Whig school, who have 
in later years acted with the Democratic party. His speech 
before the Committee on Privileges and Elections in his 
own cause won for him the highest personal regard, and 
placed him before the country not onl}' as a learned jurist, 
but as a wise and conservative statesman, (he peer of the 
wisest and the greatest. His name will ever be associated 
in history with this the highest honor which his State could 
confer upon him, and of which neither Returning Boards 
nor party majorities can ever deprive him. His name 
belongs to his country, and his couiitiy will take care of 
his political history and character. The essential honor of 
this high achievement has been greatly enhanced by the 
high-toned spirit and manly bearing he has maintained 
through all the long and bitter discussions of the case. 
His sensitive nature, writhin"- under a sense of the areat> 
injustice done him, making deeper and keener the many and 
great provocations to resentment, yet his perfect self-con- 
trol and magnificent equipoise have disclosed the real nobil- 



10 In Memoriam. 



ity and greatness of Ihe uiaii more than any other eliapter 
in his history. From this contest all the finer instincts of 
his nature recoiled as from an infection. It was a perpetual 
torture to his refined sensibilities, which he endured solel}' 
for the sake of the fundamental principle of constitutional 
government which he represented. The right of a State 
to be represented in the Senate of the United States, and 
to elect its own Senators by a legally chosen and recog- 
nized Legislature, is a fundamental right guaranteed by the 
Constitution of the United States. It was only as the rep- 
resentative of his State, in defending this vital principle of 
constitutional law, that he consented to maintain a contest 
which involved so much that was foreign to his tastes and 
crucifying to his feelings, and which may have hastened his 
death. But it would hav« been contrary to the ruling spirit 
of his whole life to surrender a vital principle in which the 
rights of others were involved; rather would he sacrifice his 
own liberty and life. Fidelity to principle, as distinguished 
from policy, made him heroic in life and tranquil in death. 

A character which combined so many elements of true 
greatness, and which was sustained so wisely and well in 
the highest conditions of a noble manhood, must yield many 
lessons of wisdom, both to the profession in which he was 
a, shining light, and to the young men (if the country, for 
whom he is a high model. 

In studying the lessons of a successful life, we encounter 
the fact that the history of the world is the biography of 
successful men. If he made the most of his profession, 
getting wisdom, learning, fortune, and fame out of it, and 
reaching its highest possibilities in his own State, it was due 
to the fact that his professional history was only the ex- 
pression of his personal and professional character. A man's 
history can never be separated from his ciiaracter, nor can 



o 



Henry M. Spofford. 11 



we stuJy them npavt. A successful career is only a man's 
character in action. Opportunities given, the con<litions of 
success must be found in the elements of character which a 
philosophical analysis alone can re\'eal. In Judge Spof- 
ford's character we have as conditions of success — 

1. Self-reliance. — There may have been nothing heroic in 
his boyhood, but the force and fire of his young manhood 
threw him uj) and out, away from home and friends, to 
make the battle of life among strangers, and to carve out 
his own fortune with his own unaided right arm. In such 
fields the grandest men of the race have laid the founda- 
tions of character upon wliich fortune and fame depend. 
The self-reliance and self-confidence acquired in the earlier 
strusdes of life, in the earlier settlements of Louisiana, 
were far more to him in the after-achievements of life, and 
contributed more to life's success, than any inherited fortune 
and position. All great men are self-made. 

2. Decision of Character. — Success is not fortuitous. 
Great achievements are not accidental ; they are the prod- 
ucts of decision, purpose, power. Strong, sustained char- 
acter, is not the product of casual and diverse impulses, nor 
of the drifting influences of society, but of one steady and 
sustained purpose, which absorbs the whole being, and holds 
the impulses and forces of the whole life true to itself with 
a decision of character as unwavering as the truth, and as 
unchangeable as the eternal principles which supply the 
inspiration for all truly great men. 

3. Self-conlrol. — The whole measure of human passion 
is not too much to supply the interest, the energy, and the 
enthusiasm, necessary to the highest effort. Young life is 
weakened, and often wasted, in the undue indulgence of the 
passions, and records its shameful weakness in the history 
of dubious musings, abortive resolutions, fickle fancies, and 



12 In Memoriam. . 



foolish failures. But life grows stalwart and grand only 
under the self-control which commands all of its vital forces, 
and delivers them with precision and power upon one great 
purpose. The sad history of failure, which so often disap- 
points and crushes mature manhood, is written in the self- 
indulgence of youth. Self-control, acquired early, and used 
severely, gives — 

4. Force of character — which lifts the resolute above the 
too common incumbrance of mere hangers-on. Imperti- 
nence is alwa3's obtrusive, and too many friends modify, 
if they do not defeat, success. The strong have to carry 
many dead-weights, while weakness invites arrogance. The 
earnest man often has occasion to wish himself possessed of 
a character with which stupidity and impertinence could 
not make so free. Many a generous life has wasted itself 
on unprofitable friends ; while the firm, heroic, self-poised 
spirit, possessing positive force of character, has seen the 
spaces clear around him, and the inennibrances fall off, leav- 
ing him room and freedom. An earnest man has not more 
time to waste on profitless friends than passion to spend in 
youthful indulgences and irresolute purposes. The path to 
signal success is so beset with difficulties, and so obstructed 
by opposition, that none but the self-reliant, determined, 
heroic spirit, in command of all the vital forces of his nat- 
ure, concentrated upon one purpose and one pursuit, can 
pass on and up to the sublime goal. 

To all these elements of success Judge Spofford added 
moral courage, systematic application, energ}', self-confi- 
dence, conscious integrity, and professional fidelity, which, 
reposing upon the basis of a substantial physical manhood, 
sustained the imiicUing power of a nervous force equal to 
the highest intellectual efforts and the utmost physical en- 
durance. He was thus lifted, l>y the happy cond)iiiation 



IIenrv M. SroFFORD. 13 

of physical, intellectual, ami moral forces, above the com- 
mon mass, and placed upon a pedestal of exceptional ex- 
cellence, which commands the admiration and homage of 
men. 

With these elements of character sustained through life, 
he would have been successful in any position or pursuit. 
But other conditions contributed to his success in his chosen 
profession, which we would do well to note. And, 

1. His professiun absorbed him. It was his meat and 
drink — his life and love. It consumed him like a passion, 
and, like all great passions, it refused to be divided. He 
turned aside for nothing; admitted no divided interest; 
listened to no alluring promises. When earnestness be- 
comes an enthusiasm, success is limited only by the impos- 
sible. 

2. He carried with him the sense of the gravest responsi- 
hility. A man's life-work will never be better than his ideal. 
Judge Spofford saw in the legal profession not so niutdi 
money, but so much professional honor, integrity, and fidel- 
ity to the responsible trusts confided to an attorney at law, 
out of which came his professional character, and apart from 
which professional character was impossible. 

3. He possessed legal learning. He was no smatterer. 
Few men surpassed him in the knowledge of law, its his- 
tory, its principles, and its practice. His first business was 
to master the civil law of his adopted State, which differs 
essentially from that of anj' other State, and which required 
a knowledge of Roman law, with all of its ancient history 
and maxims. This fact may, in some sort, account for the 
classic molil of his thought, and style, aud manners. But 
his learning compassed the entire range of his profession 
with a thoroughness and accuracy rarely eijualed. Be- 
sides, his researches extended into almost every field of 



14 In !Memoriam. 



knowledge, making bis general infurmation extensive and 
reliable. 

4. He was a superior judxje of har. Possessed of a fine 
legal mind, with rare powers of discrimination, it is not 
surprising that bis opinions were widely sought, and bis 
decisions of final authority. As counselor, advocate, and 
judge, he knew not the cunning of the shyster, nor the 
mean advantage of the unscruj)ulous. His was an open, 
manly, professional character, honorable alike to the legal 
profession and to our common humanity. 

Some years ago William Arthur wrote a book which he 
called '• The Successful Merchant," taking for his subject 
not an ideal but a real character. If I liad to write a book 
to be called " The Successful Lawyer," I would take for the 
hero and the model, Hexry M. Spoffokd. 

But what shall I say of him as u niun in the private and 
social relations of life? He was so gentle and generous, so 
kind and considerate, so polite and polished, so chaste and 
elegant in feeling, language, and bearing, that he was the 
charm of every social circle, and the center and soul of 
domestic life. A courtly gentleman, a kind neighbor, a gen- 
erous friend, an atTectionate husband, an indulgent father. 
But I forbear to enter the charmed home circle where his 
domestic life and love run the deepest, and his milder, 
and softer, and holier virtues shone the brightest. This 
is holy grounil, upon which common sandals should never 
tread. Rude words should never break upon the holy 
places of such love, such grief. No ^•ulgar stare of gap- 
ing crowds should be permitted to shock the wounded 
sensibilities which appeal to us in the silence of this 
sacred sorrow. How sad that every heart must have its 
own bitterness, every house its own skeleton, every para- 
dise its own blighting, every garden its own sepulcher ! 



Henry M. Si'offord. 15 



But so it is, since '' sin Ciime into the woild, and death by 
sin." 

Tliiit such a life should pass away, leaving such broken 
hearts behind, in such a desolate home, is but the repetition 
of the old, old story of death and dust. But if we have 
fouml lessons in his life, we should also hear the voices of 
admonition in his death, the most imjiressive of which 
conies down to us from the mountain wilds of West Vir- 
ginia, where the last summons found him. To die at home 
is a great mercy, but to die in mountain solitudes is solemn, 
sublime. Alone with his son, and attended by strangers, 
he met the last enemy, and conc|uered as he fell. His 
manly courage, Christian philosoph}', and sublime faith, sus- 
tained him in that hour ; softened his pillow, reposed his 
soul, and su[»plied the rod and staff for tlie last dark valley. 

The ■' after-glow " which lingers upon the earth long after 
the sun has gone to rest, cimverting the summer twilight 
into a scene of ethereal beaut}-, is not more heavenly and 
hopeful of a bright to-morrow tlian was the celestial ra- 
diance which, gathered from all the beneficent ministries of a 
well-spent life, and suffused with the soft glow of divine 
light and love, transfigured his face before he expired, re- 
lighting it with the beauty of youth, which lingered long 
after the noble heart was still, and death had claimed his 
victim. There is heart in such a life, and hope in such a 
death. Life is a scale of degrees. Between rank and rank 
of our oreat men are wide intervals — intervals not of time 
and place, but of character ; and each character rejiresents 
its own sj'stem of ideas, and interprets for us its own phe- 
nomena of life. No man has a successor, but each stands 
alone in a separate and distinct individuality. He comes 
and goes, fulfilling his mission and ministry, and passes on 
into the Forever. His place is never "hlled. Nature never 



\ 



16 In ^ri'MnUlAM. 



repeats herself. God never dupliciites his woik. When 
these golden suns sink below the evening horizon, we look 
ill viiin for their return. Other orbs will float above the 
horizon, resplendent with the light of life, but he whom we 
mourn to-day will come not. 

Tliis is the state of man ; to-day he puts forth 
The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 
And bears liis bkishing lienors thick npon him ; 
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; 
A^nd when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
His greatness is a-ripening — nips his root, 
Aiid then lie falls. 



I'riutoil at the Sodtliorn Methodist Publishing House, N.ishvillo, Teiin. 



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HECKMAN 

BINDERY INC. 

,0^ APR 89 



N. MANCHESTER. 
INDIANA 46962 



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